


New beginnings

by roseslotusvioletiris



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, post 7x09
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21747358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseslotusvioletiris/pseuds/roseslotusvioletiris
Summary: Post 7x09. Jay wonders where Hailey’s mug went.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Comments: 4
Kudos: 78





	New beginnings

“Where’s your mug?” 

Hailey scowled at Jay’s interruption. He knew she had a pile of paperwork to get through before the end of shift. She was grateful that he offered to get her a cup of coffee but didn’t expect for it to mean more distraction. 

“I don’t know, Jay.” She replied, failing to keep the frustration out of her voice. He was doing her a favor, she reminded herself. Taking her stress out on him wouldn’t be fair. “I don’t care what mug you use.” 

“Okay.” Jay didn’t sound convinced. The shuffling from the break room further proved that. The commotion was enough that everyone else’s attention was taken off their own work, apparent annoyance directed at Jay in the break room. 

Hailey sighed and got up out of her seat. She noticed the rest of Intelligence, sans Jay of course, return immediately to their own paperwork. She didn’t bother to resist rolling her eyes as she made her way towards Jay. 

His entire head was in the pantry when she walked into the break room. Despite her mood she couldn’t hold back a snort at the sight. 

Jay jumped, hitting his head on the top of the pantry. Clearly he wasn’t expecting her, as he wasn’t the type to get surprised. 

When his face finally came into focus, her frustration wavered yet again. He looked incredibly bothered about her mug missing. 

“You had it before. Before I got kidnapped and shot.” 

All her annoyance and frustration vanished at Jay’s words. She remembered where her mug was now. 

In pieces. Courtesy of her smashing it against the sink. 

If she realized it earlier in their conversation she would have mentioned it flippantly, oblivious to his feelings on the subject. But Jay had been strangely insistent on doing things, normal routines, that had been in place before the Angela incident. She became aware of this days ago. 

It all made sense, really. Jay was trying to hold onto consistent and stable parts of his life in order to avoid the events that just transpired. 

In a way, her broken mug was a perfect opportunity for her to bring this up to him. 

She slid over to Jay, resting her hands over the counter while keeping her face towards him. “I remember what happened to it now,” She started to explain. “I broke it a few weeks ago. No worries.” She shrugged, acting like it wasn’t a big deal. But her eyes stayed firmly on Jay, awaiting his reaction. 

Jay snorted, which made Hailey grimace. He wouldn’t find it as humorous if he knew the reason she broke the mug. His subtle emotional reaction of a tightened jaw showed her simply breaking it was enough to affect him. 

“Were you trying to juggle too much?” He asked. 

Hailey’s eyes slid to the floor, focusing on the tiles. “Actually, it happened when you were missing.” She admitted. 

The silence that followed her words was deafening. Hailey forced herself to look back up at Jay, telling herself she needed to get an idea of his reaction before continuing. His hands caught her eye before she made it up to his face though. They were clenched into a fist. 

Hailey placed her hand gingerly over his. “It’s just a coffee mug.” 

“I know it’s just a coffee mug but..” Jay ran his free hand over his face with a frustrated sigh. “It feels like another thing I’m losing control over.” 

“Are you still seeing your therapist?” 

Jay nodded. “Yeah.” 

Hailey peered closer at him, wanting to make sure he wasn’t lying to her. 

Jay seemed to falter under her gaze. “Just not about this,” He weakly gestured to the empty space in front of him with his hand. “Whole thing.” He finished explaining lamely. 

“You should.” Is all she says, reaching up to squeeze his shoulder. 

More words were on the tip of her tongue but she found herself being more cautious ever since the incident. Pushing each other was always common in their relationship, however this was a much longer process than anything else they have ever dealt with. She couldn’t be hounding him on everything. 

Jay just nodded, grabbing two random mugs for them. 

A dozen other mugs were left untouched, pulled out by a desperate Jay. She reached out to grab one, but Jay’s arm cut her off. 

“It’s fine,” He said before pulling his arm back and returning his attention to filling their respective mugs with coffee. “Go do your paperwork. I don’t want to keep you any longer.” 

With a grateful smile, she left the break room, happy to get back to her work. She’d spent a lot of her time worrying about him recently, and work was the one place she could clear her mind. 

Less than a minute later, Jay dropped off a mug filled with coffee on her desk. Hailey eagerly took a sip, refreshed from the deliciousness of caffeine. 

She understood where Jay was coming from. Normalcy really was comforting. 

—

It had taken a few days, but Hailey finally was caught up with her paperwork. She would never blame Jay, but his.....incident really put her behind. 

A voice in the back of her mind reminded her that it was her reaction to Jay that caused this. She ignored it. 

Instead of the empty desk she was expecting, a bag was there. She could scratch off the possibility of paperwork because that would be illogical, but she couldn’t deny she wasn’t curious.

She looked inside only to see mounds of tissue paper. Burrowing through it she found a brand new mug at the bottom. 

A chuckle escaped her mouth as she realized what was on the mug. Colored lights and letters of the alphabet decorated it, clearly an ode to Stranger Things. 

Her and Jay had binged it on Netflix during his recovery. They had heard about the show before due to its sheer popularity, but their hectic work schedule had always prevented them from starting it. 

A note had fallen onto the ground, somehow ending up there while she was navigating through the paper. She leaned down to pick it up, finding herself surprisingly eager to read it. 

It was just a mug, she told herself as she ripped open the envelope. There was no reason for her to get excited.

The familiar, chicken scratch handwriting stood out to her right away. Hailey pressed her finger against the brief sentence, allowing her finger to follow the words as she read. 

To new beginnings, Jay had wrote. 

“To new beginning,” She repeated with a smile, taking the card and putting it in her drawer. Thankful that no one else was here to question the present, Hailey cleaned up the remnants. 

She picked up her new mug with caution. Yes, she broke her last one under excruciating circumstances, but she still wanted to be careful. 

Her fingers ran around the rim. Jay wasn’t here yet, as Hailey always got to work first. Holding the mug he gave her was like he was here himself though, filling her with comfort and contentment. She never thought such a simple gift would evoke these strong feelings. 

Now this was his fault. She had gotten an admirable hold onto her feelings for Jay the past week, able to smoothly maintain their partnership and friendship. 

She was thrown into a tailspin now. Trying to remind herself Jay was just being a good friend, while at the same time thinking about how nice it would be to run her fingers through his hair. 

Her stomach fluttered at the thought. “Pull yourself together, Hailey.” She scolded herself, shaking her head. 

Desperate for some change of scenery, she headed to the break room. The coffee machine was a welcomed distraction. She started to make the coffee, relieved to have something to do. But she knew after she would be right back to thinking about Jay.

Coming to work early and being alone with her thoughts was quickly becoming a bad idea. But it had been part of her routine for so long, she didn’t want to part with it. 

She was pouring coffee into her mug when she heard footsteps. Looking outside the room, she spotted Jay walking in. 

Of course it would be him. Not another co-worker like Kim or Kevin who could distract from her current thoughts, but the man who she couldn’t stop thinking about. 

Their eyes met right away, as Hailey raised a hand in greeting. She didn’t miss his eyes then looking over to her desk, obviously checking if she had opened the present.

“You didn’t need to get me this.” 

“That’s a strange way of saying thank you.” He responded, reaching past her to grab a mug out of the cabinet. The smell of his aftershave drifted into her nose, filling her with yearning. What would it be like, if she buried her face into his neck—

She was at work. Of all places, she shouldn’t do this here. To allow herself to lose control. 

To regain her composure, she widened the distance between them, taking multiple steps to her left. 

She didn’t miss the weird look Jay gave her, but chose to ignore it. “Thank you,” She said with a roll of her eyes. “But now I feel like I need to get you something.” She pointed out, taking a sip of her coffee. 

“You don’t have to return the favor,” Jay let out a laugh while shaking his head. “I just like doing things for you.” He said with a shrug, his cheeks tinged the slightest bit of pink. 

She almost spit her drink out at the sight. Jay was never the flustered type. 

The mood seemed to shift at Jay’s confession. She knew it all too well. It’s when they are teetering on voicing confessions aloud, changing everything between them. 

But instead Hailey just swallowed her coffee and gave him a closed mouth grin. It was easy to leave words unsaid when she didn’t say any at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed! Off scenes I believe Jay talked to his therapist about this, and decided to get Hailey a new mug then. As always I don’t own anything!


End file.
